@thesocycinema / videos

Tags:discourse/language, gender, media, sex/sexuality, social construction, masculinity, popular culture, 06 to 10 minsYear: 2009Length: 6:70 (segment 1) and 1:30 (segment 2)Access:YouTubeSummary: In the summer of 2009, the reality TV show The Bachelorette featured a fascinating discussion about "Man Code." Originally appearing in the men's magazine Maxim, Man Code is a "collection of rules that every man should live by." I use this clip in my Sociology of Gender class, asking student to use Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity and Kimmel's concept of masculinity as homophobia to make sense of (1) what Man Code is, (2) how it is policed, and (3) who does the policing.

The discussion of Man Code takes place in segment 1 (starts around min. 3:36) and segment 2 (runs until approx. min. 1:30) of this episode.

In yet another example of hegemonic masculinity, CNN recently suspended political analyst, Roland Martin, for sending homophobic tweets during the Super Bowl. Martin tweeted: "If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham's H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him." Later, he tweeted that a New England Patriot wearing pink "needs a visit from #teamwhipdatass". The tweets are homophobic, but they also denote a hierarchical valuation of so-called masculine behaviors, and they even suggest the very real consequences for men who fail to properly enact these behaviors. While Martin may have been joking about "smacking the ish" out people or "whipping," them, the fact is that violence is a very real consequence for those who fail to adequately perform masculinity.